Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them

But are we even allowed to enjoy the fruits of our labor?

In 2014, Burger King merged with the Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons in a $11.4 billion deal. Most people don't know this and probably don't think it affects their life in any way.

Well, perhaps it does.

The American-based Burger King, a company founded about 70 years ago, was bought and sold four times in its first half-century of existence, but, in 2002, several private equity firms partnered to take the company public. In 2010, a Brazilian firm with help from Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway acquired a majority stake in the company.

The Brazilians restructured the new company, which eventually resulted in the merger with Tim Hortons in order to take advantage of, ironically, the benefits of this new company received by being taxed as a Canadian corporation.

They call this "tax inversion." The current parent company is replaced by a foreign parent company and the original company becomes a subsidiary of the foreign one, thus moving its tax residence to a more beneficial…